During the recent November election, Georgia voters decided to freeze the income tax rate for the highest earners in the state. The decision to make the constitutional amendment will mean that the top income tax rate will remain at its current level of 6 percent, and the state legislature will be unable to raise it any further. Voters who said yes to the tax freeze for top earners accounted for 74.16 percent of the total statewide vote.
There were two other issues on the ballot that ended up passing with similarly large margins. A decision to raise fines for reckless driving and use the extra money to cover treatment expenses for spinal and brain injuries passed with 69.57 percent of the vote. A vote to allow public universities in Georgia to remain exempt from property taxes passed with 73.45 percent of voters in favor.
There were some problems with the voter information website on Nov. 4 that resulted in some voters being greeted by an error message. The apparent glitch began at about 7:30 a.m. and was fixed before 10:30 a.m. A spokesman for the Secretary of State said that the glitch had to do with intermittent speed issues. By Nov. 5, 96 percent of the vote had been counted.
Staying abreast of current tax law issues can be difficult for busy working people. A business owner or individual may want to seek help from a tax law attorney if there are issues that could potentially lead to problems with the Internal Revenue Service. If a client is already facing an audit by the IRS, an attorney may be able to help resolve the issue before criminal charges are filed.
Source: Northwest Georgia News, “Voters pass amendment to cap Georgia income tax rate, 2 other tax issues by large margins“, November 05, 2014